


28 Months Later

by Andi_Singer999



Category: 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, Resident Evil, Zombieland (2009)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-23 08:28:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14930750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andi_Singer999/pseuds/Andi_Singer999
Summary: The zombie apocalypse is hard; it's much harder for the second time. This is the third time in 28 months the infection has returned. Sadly, I'm infected. Somehow, I haven't turned...Yet.





	28 Months Later

I stumbled, panting heavily with all my muscles dragging me down, through the small tunnel of a close friends apartment. For whatever reason, Mr.C saw it necessary to have a giant tunnel leading to the outside from his living room. I held my side as I felt the usual stitches you get when you run for longer than your body can; clenching my eyes closed, I tried to calm my breathing. Knocking hard on the back of the board which was covered by the dresser, I heard Mr.C jump. I put my right hand on the dirty, hot, brick wall and my left hand on my hip while I was trying to catch my breath. "I'm coming." The mid thirty year old smoker muffled whisper sounded before the thick grinding of sand and wood from pushing the heavy, old dresser out of the way and exposing bright, burning light into the dark, dangerous tunnel.  
The bright light singed my eyes; my natural reaction to squint and turn from the light suddenly. His face dropped. "Holy shit, T." I walked past him slowly and painfully before laying on his old, dusty, stinky couch.  
"I know. I look like shit." I grumbled. He stared at me in awe, my shirt and pants soaked in dried blood; which splattered my hair. I closed my eyes for once as Mr. C closed the tunnel.  
"Where were you? The guards are looking for you." He said plopping down on the chair across from the table. He packed a small bowl of marijuana he grew in the corner as I started to doze off. "What did I do now?"  
"You didn't show up for duty. They've been looking for you since you left five days ago. You're in deep shit." He said holding his breath. I groaned and then chuckled.  
"The mall is completely overrun." I said sitting up and staring at the scrawny man exhaling his smoke. His eyes widened. "You need to shower before they come here and find you." Mr.C's brows furrowed.  
I stood and walked towards his room for fresh clothes. Opening his miniscule closet doors for a washcloth, I turned on the sink to soak the small cloth to wash; with spurting, dirty water, my arms and chest. The blood coagulated then flaked off onto the washcloth from my shoulders, my chest, neck, face, hair. For a small while, the water ran a pale pink then clear once I finished washing everything I could reach, the water then returned to it's dirty color.  
Reaching behind my shoulder, I swiped up with the now bloody cloth and felt a pull of flesh and an excruciating sting. Cursing, I looked in the mirror; a deep scratch went down and inwards towards my spine; blood now flowed generously from the cleaned wound. My heart beat faster as a dingy white chunk of something popped for my eyes. Reaching for it, groaning loudly as the skin and tissue around it clung tightly. A pain twinged as it released with a small pop. Wide eyed, a tooth sat in my fingers before me. Bloody and brown, I began to shake with fear as I stepped out into the living room, my eyes never leaving the tooth.  
"C. Look." I said walking towards him and never releasing the stare from the tooth. A small bit of me felt that if I looked away, it would disappear. He looked away from packing another bowl and cursed. "Where did you find that?" He asked. I turned to face away from him to show the large scratch.  
"Was the tooth in that?" He asked terrified. I nodded wide eyed; in return, he plucked the tooth from my fingers and looked at me again. "Are you infected?" he asked shocked moving away from me; I shook my head.  
"No, I would have turned by now." I said matter-of-factly while walking back to his bedroom for fresh clothes while thinking of if I was infected or not.  
Grabbing a large shirt and some new pants; I changed quickly and proceeded back to the living room. Four men stood heavily armed, with Mr.C on his knees with his hands behind his head, awaited my return.  
"Shit." I mumbled. One of the men clicked their walkie-talkie on their shoulder to tell his captain an update. "We found her, sir."  
"Come with us." Another man said walking towards me and grabbing my arm with a firm grasp. I wriggled around trying to release myself as his grip tightened. "If you won't go peacefully, we will take you kicking and screaming." He said seriously. I watched him with my brows furrowed. Thinking hard about my decision, that currently seemed wrong but the right decision, my eyes switched back and forth between the man that held me. I pulled my arm from him as hard as I could and elbowed his jaw, then turned and ran back towards Mr.C's bedroom. The window was still closed and I silently cursed myself for what I had to do. Covering my face with my arms, I drove my shoulder through the window; sending shards of glass into my skin, but landing on the trash bags sent the shards deeper into my skin.  
Landing on the black bags, large poofs of dust and smoke went into the air. Getting up as fast as I could, I took off down the street to my left. I heard the men in all black yelling into their walkie talkies about my running. I never turned back to see, but I soon heard a large truck headed my way. Ducking into a random alley, the large trucks tires squealed as they stopped. Panting, I turned to run again and barely escaped the gunfire taking a sharp right for a ladder.  
Bullets flew past me, sounding like whistles and landing in the bricks around me. As I took up the ladder, a sharp sting in my thigh made me take the slow route. My vision was going blurry and a small black spot in the center of my vision began to form. I clamped my eyes closed as the men talked to each other about how long I would last until I would go. I groaned and my head dropped to my chest. My grip on the cold bars began to slip and I felt like I was in my bed. I heard a thud and some muted, distorted speaking along with the weightless feeling of being carried.  
A while later, a bright light was shining through my eyelids as a reddish color and waking me. I opened my eyes slowly to hearing a repeating phrase. "Where did you go?" I clamped my eyes closed and mumbled my answer. "With some friends." A click sounded as I gained my bearings and went to rub my eyes. Chains rattled and I tilted my head back. "Shit!" I whispered loudly. The click came again and a question started also. "Where did you go?" I thought and chuckled sadly. "With some friends." I stated looking at the glass. I tried to drown the man out best I could whilst I sat alone, tied to a chair, in a bright, white, secluded cell. The cell had no bars like a normal prison; there was only one door, which was a dulled white color with the paint chipped off near the door handle from usage. The only slight change in color was the bottom of the wall, it was a grey color and had strange mold growing on it.  
The men continued to try and converse with me as I ignored until they said a sentence that would ruin my life. "You're infected." I looked up to the mirror and laughed. "No I'm not." I replied. "We will release you with a crew of men to take you to help find a cure." He said rolling over what I had said; I began to think I was hallucinating as I couldn't see them and only saw myself. "Why can't you find a cure here?" I asked furrowing my brows. He went quiet for a bit and the thoughts came back that I was hallucinating. "We simply do not have the correct technology to find what we need." I chuckled and looked around some more; sadly, the only familiar thing was the dark circles under my eyes and scratches on my cheek. Tears started to form as I was uncomfortable where I was, the situation I was in, and on top of that; the shock was wearing off. I clamped my eyes shut as the men spoke again telling each other to keep me tied up while transporting me to another room, for my safety. Four men entered the room, one by one; I sat in the chair, tied by my wrists as they merely picked up the chair and took me through the door. The rubbing of the hospital gown on my shoulder mark burned and itched so I leaned forward to releave some of the pressure.  
"Lean back." The man said. I didn't comply and stared straight ahead. Grabbing my arm, he pulled as hard as he could to slam me back into the seat. The pain returned with a hiss from my teeth. "Knock her out." The man behind me demanded; a man guarding all four men and myself had turned around to see what all the commotion was about. Once he was told to knock me out, he did so with no hesitation. The butt of his gun smacking against my chin. I woke again to find myself in a bed, strapped by both my wrists and ankles. "Shit." I said staring straight up to the ceiling. Waiting for a while, listening to nothing but my breathing. Some talking from outside, I looked towards the door to see a group of three men walking into my room in front of the "Doctor". "Why is she tied?" the tall, dark haired man asked. He watched me as I laid silent and still. "She's..", The doctor began, "dangerous." He said looking at me. "What?" I asked furrowing my brows and squinting my eyes in utter confusion. The doctor tilted his head and pursed his lips angrily. Leaning my head back down against the pillow, I sighed. "So what are we here for?" The blonde haired man with a weird haircut asked. "You need to take her to the checkpoint in DeKalb, Georgia; just outside of Atlanta." the doctor said, still looking at me.  
"Why so far away?" A light skinned black man asked. "Luther, we have our mission, let's just get it done." The blonde man said, also turning to look at me then to the doctor. "Alright then." The doctor started then sent the men out of the room. "I'll get your clothes, do not tell them any information than they need to know about this mission." He said pointing at me. I looked up to him and wanted to spit on him, but I was so dehydrated, I couldn't muster up the spit too. "What? Like the fact that I'm infected and could turn at any fucking moment." Laying me head back, tears welled up in my eyes then ran down the sides of my temples. "God." I whispered to myself and shook my head side to side gently. I knew deep inside that the men outside were talking about why I was so important and was so worth taking such a large distance. "I'll return with your clothes and bag." He said leaving and slamming the door behind him. In the meantime, I lie there thinking about what would happen if I turned on this mission. What if I just woke up one day and was completely too far gone? Who would put me down? I tried hard to move my thoughts to a different subject to no avail. What if I wasn't even infected and the infected just scraped my skin? But then I thought back to the tooth that was embedded in my skin and stayed there for five days. The doctor came back a lot sooner than I expected or I had been stuck in my thoughts for longer than I had thought. "Get dressed." He said putting my clothes on the dresser next to me, he threw my bag in the chair next to the dresser. I flinched as he walked towards me to unbuckle my hands and feet. I waited until he left to sit up. As I sat up, my head spun and my stomach growled at me. Closing my eyes, I threw my legs over the side of the bed, I heard several pairs of footsteps wander in, and immediately I thought of the guards. "Yes, I will get dressed, I just don't want people in here while I'm nearly naked." I said angrily.  
"We're not here to watch you get dressed, we're here to make sure you who they say you are." A familiar voice said; the light skinned man from a few moments ago spoke up. I looked to them, trying not to waste any energy I had left. Getting a better look at the three men, I saw the tallest was the dark haired man with a full beard and a red vest, underneath which, was a tan shirt. Each of the men had a pistol strapped to their thigh and their pant pocket's full of what I assumed to be ammo and food. The tall man also had a revolver strapped around his chest to his abdomen. Next to him was the blonde man with the strange haircut. He had a tan knife sheath next to his left shoulder with a dark handle for quick access. He was wearing all black and stood out from the rest of the group by just that alone; but in a way, they all stood out. The final man standing was the light skinned black man. He was different because of what he was wearing; it seemed like the first day of the reinfection all over again. He was wearing a black tank top; exposing his tattoos around both his biceps and around his left forearm. He was wearing black cargo pants similar to the other two men.  
I stood slowly to walk to my backpack, I put my hands against the dresser for much needed support. "What'd they do to you?" The dark haired, bearded man asked. I searched through my bag for some granola that I bought a while back. Opening it slowly, I looked at them, "They drugged and kidnapped me." I said bluntly digging into my granola bites. "What'd you do?" The light skinned man asked sitting down across from me on the bed. "I didn't show up for duties." I again said bluntly. "I was asking about your shoulder." The bearded man said demandingly. Looking to him, I began to feel slowly better; "They drugged me and I fell on my shoulder." I said. I continued to eat while they all nodded to themselves and at each other. "Can I get dressed now?" I asked looking at each of them. "Yeah, sorry." The blonde said. Once the door closed, I frantically searched through my bag for my knife. My bowie was there still in its black cloth sheath. The faux bone handle with the metal butt made me smile; taking it out and exposing the silver glint of the blade to the sunlight made me only smile bigger. The darker grey engravings on the blade have started to fade from use.  
Getting dressed quickly, my tight ripped, faded pants fit just like I needed them to. I had on some socks from the doctors so it would be harder for me to run away; keeping those, my black boots were next. Then finally my ripped tank top. Scratches and dried blood stained the dark grey color; on the shoulder, was the giant rip and my blood. I put my shirt on and finally to complete the outfit. Putting the belt through the loops, I also included the knife onto my hip. My knife was so big, it started to bump near my knee. Chuckling, I put my hair up and walked towards the door with my granola in hand. The door opened suddenly exposing the men taking me for the "mission". Walking past them, I continued to eat. "Why does she get to eat?" The taller man asked the blonde man. "Barry, it's almost night anyway; we'll eat in a bit." Turning around to look at them with a smug smile, the dark haired man looked at his blonde friend. "We better." He said following behind me. The other two men followed behind him, forming a triangle behind me. Walking right out the door, a breeze rolled in; slow and steady, pushing the already hot, smelly air into my face. I pulled my backpack from off my right shoulder and around my left side to put my granola away. "Let's go." The blonde said in a stern voice; walking past me. The sun was setting into a beautiful red and orange color which painted across the sky and clouds. The blue sky still was showing happily as the sun was sinking behind the distant skyline of broken and old buildings. Swallowing, I followed the group of men as they walked towards the said skyline.  
As we walked, we were all quiet; not speaking only panting as we crawled up and down rubble with burnt, deceased bodies scattered sporadically in all sorts of positions; running, holding loved ones, etc. "Hey," I finally spoke up as we stopped to catch our breath, "If we find a dog, can we keep it?" I asked leaning against some rubble, a rusty, long bar that was meant to hold up a once standing building poked out next to me. "No." The blonde man said harshly. The bearded man looked at me; his elbows resting against his knees, "I don't know, Leon, let's get the girl a dog." He said sarcastically. Looking at him, I stuck my tongue out; a laugh came from the light skinned man. "That building looks good, since it's the only one not in rubble." Leon said pointing to my right. WHOLE FOODS stood in curly, broken, faded green letters. "Maybe there's granola." The dark haired man said standing; he walked over to me and took my shoulder into his hand to push me in that direction. As we entered, I walked behind them, the handle of my knife in my hand with the button popped; the men each had their pistols pointed in each direction. "Hey," I whispered, trying to catch someone's attention, "What if someone whistled?" I asked, still in a whisper. "Are you dumb?" Leon whispered back, not looking at me. "I mean, it would bring anything to us." I said fiddling with my knife handle then I stopped moving. "Come on." Barry said looking at me instead of in front of him. Not moving, he rolled his head and walked back to me quickly, "Close the fucking door." He demanded, grabbing the handle, he pulled towards my back and towards himself. I stuck my hand out, not letting it close. "What if there's something in here?" I asked louder than a whisper.  
"Keep your voice down!" Leon demanded in a loud whisper. Barry looked at Leon with a serious look, "What if she's right?" He said; Leon looked back at Barry with his brows furrowed and an angry look on his face. Sighing while pursing his lips, he stood back at the door with Barry and I, the light skinned man followed. "So, we whistling?" I asked with a smile. Leon looked away from me in annoyance and we all began to whistle; a few moments passed and no movement ensued from our obnoxious and loud whistling. "I think it's safe to say there's nothing in here." I said looking up at Leon. Barry closed the door and the light skinned man grabbed a long bike lock from his bag to wrap around the handles of the doors. Rotting fruit lay in all sections of the store apart from the shelves where the bagged "natural" candy and other assortments of snacks where strewn. I looked around the shelves at the bags of snacks and decided what would be good to keep to myself and share with them; batteries seemed like a good thing to share as well as fruit roll ups and some gallons of water. A fire they had started warmed the store and had lit up the walls above the shelves.  
Walking back to the men, I held up the water and batteries. "Here." I said throwing them to Leon. He caught them just as they were aimed at his chest. "How do we know any of this is even still good?" Barry asked looking at a bar of candy in his hands. "We don't; but you wanted food, so eat." The light skinned guy said. "Hey, what's your name?" I asked him while munching on some granola. "Luther." He said with a mouth full of random dried fruit. "Cool." I said nodding. The fire crackled in front of us as we sat quietly eating and thinking. I started to feel tired; leaning down, I laid my head against my backpack and rested my head. I watched the fire and felt tired from the warmth on my front and the cool on my back and side of the tile. Closing my eyes, the men started to talk to each other quietly. "Do you think she is worth this?" It sounded like Barry was asking from the right side of the fire. "Maybe." Leon responded quietly. "I didn't know the military was issuing jobs to kids yet." Luther randomly spat out; he was sitting in front of the fire. "I didn't know the military was issuing jobs." Leon said matter -of-factly. "Yeah, man. They issued jobs to help out; the military can't wash clothes." Barry replied, I could almost see his reaction from the tone of his voice. His furrowed brows and his raised lip.  
The tired feeling had taken more and more of a hold and eventually stole me away into it's dangerous grasp. I woke the next morning slowly; a bright beam of light shining on part of my face. Moving my hand in front of the light, I looked around me; trying to see if anyone else was up yet. No one but myself; I decided to look around yet again. Wandering up and down the isles with a basket that was left, dropped on it's side with it's items strewn out on the floor before it. I dropped everything that wasn't useful or was easily broken. A full, unopened tub of peanut butter with a small bear of honey, a small cup of olives; probably old, a bottle of bread crumbs. I found a bunch of bottles of mayonnaise, ketchup, and some other gross condiments. I walked up and down the isles, bored and alone. Remembering where I was when all this started. At work, in my fast food job. I had just gotten a text from my boss to do some unnecessary cleaning because he wanted to keep his place perfectly clean; I tried to be understanding towards his motives, but everyone else just complained. I knew why they complained; it was long tedious jobs no one wanted to do and jobs only a girl did when she was bored. I was sent with Josh to wash the bathroom doors and also the border of the bathroom doors. No one had come in for a while and we had gotten texts from our boss to keep cleaning thing after thing. Once it was eight o'clock, we all clocked out and walked to our cars. Everything seemed normal except all the traffic backed up down the street in front of our restaurant. "That's really weird." I said to my co-workers while pointing to the street. They all agreed and continued to their cars like it was nothing but a thing. I followed suit and thought it best to just get home as fast as I could. Once I got home, I saw mom wasn't home and neither was my brother Michael. I pulled up my driveway and did everything as usual; taking my dog out, eating a snack, taking a shower, then going to bed. I woke up the next morning, everything seemed normal. I had no idea what was going on since, during the first infection, someone stole our TV's; but, yet again, I did everything like normal, letting my dog go to the bathroom outside, coming back in and using the bathroom for myself, making breakfast; two fried eggs and half of a whole wheat tortilla with a small cup of coffee and a smoothie. Putting Pinky's food in her bowl, I walked to the table to eat while she did too.  
All was still and good in my house until the screaming started. It was from outside my kitchen window, walking over, I looked and saw a running person; the screamer and a quiet violent person, snarling while sprinting full speed after her. "Fuck." I cursed to myself and thought. I wondered how they got in the compound; the military did a shitty job or someone was asleep; maybe someone died inside and the virus took over again. Either way, this was very bad. Gunfire started shortly after; too bad the military took everyone's guns. We were helpless all over again, left to defend ourselves with only household items that hardly took down one of the infected not to mention the infected tended to attack in large groups. The smallest group I had ever seen was about five or six of them. As long as I could remember that attack, I could remember that the infected never wanted to eat people, like previously imagined or thought, they only wanted to kill and spread the infection further. It was similar to rabies virus in the way of how fatal it was; if the virus didn't turn you, you would hemorrhage to death. Your brain could explode, you could claw out your guts, or worst of all, you could turn.  
"Hey kid, you find anything good?" I heard a voice behind me ask with a groggy tone. I turned around quickly, not expecting anything. But there stood Barry, his gun strapped to his thigh, and to his abdomen. He stood rubbing his eyes then combing his hand through his hair. "Yeah, I found some peanut butter, honey, some sketchy olives." I said picking up each item as I listed it. "Leave the olives." He said tossing them on the floor. "Yeah, good idea." I stated staring at the olives. "Let's see if we can find something more... filling." Barry said smirking. We walked around making jokes off of some oddly named foods. "What about some all natural beef jerky?" I asked looking at it then turning it towards him. He stared at it for a minute then agreed; I stuck it in my filling basket. Suddenly, I remembered the little store outside of my neighborhood; the Army Surplus store. I was excited for a multitude of reasons. "I know a store!" I said loudly looking at him; I picked up my pace and basically ran to Barry, excited as all get out that I had remembered this little store that no one thought was very cool or important. Barry looked at me very confused and upset. "Keep your fucking voice down." He growled lowly. I looked at him then to the ground; looking back up at him I began to explain to him the store with all it's necessities; especially in this situation that looked like it had no intention of changing ever again. "It's small, and old, but it's worth it. Everything that we need is in there." I said eager to hear his reaction. "Okay, kid, this might not even still be there. If you hadn't noticed, everything has fallen to shit-" "Once again." I interrupted and crossed my arms, I began to get upset as he avoided the fact that these things were necessary. "Yes, once again, it's not important. We have everything we need." He said quietly and angrily.  
"We don't have much food, we don't have much carrying space besides in her bag, we don't have nearly as much as we do need." Leon said with Luther by his side. Barry and I looked to him; me, with a big smile on my face, and Barry, surprised. "I say, it's worth the risk." Luther said crossing his arms.


End file.
